Sunday, September 21, 2014

We just never know where in the world we may be from day to day on this mission.  This weekend ended up being just that!!!  We were going about attending Zone Conferences in the North Carolina Charlotte Mission when we got a phone call from President Harding on Wednesday night!  We were to escort a sick missionary home......to HONG KONG!!!  Yes, that is exactly what we would be doing and that would be on Friday of this week.  That meant we needed to drive 7 hours back to Peachtree City so we could repack and get ready for a 21 hour flight!!!  Oh my.....WE CAN DO THIS, RIGHT!?

But....before we leave for Hong Kong I have to tell about the beginning part of the week.  We were in Utah the preceding weekend so that Wayne could set Kevin apart as a High Priest.  He had been called to serve on the High Council!  We are so excited for him.....

We got to have a family dinner on Sunday at Kevin and Lauren's home.  Andy and Geralyn and the boys were able to come down!!!!  And Spencer was able to come as well!!!  LOVE FAMILY TIME!!!  It is always the best time!!

And we were able to catch a beautiful sunset as we approached our Atlanta landing on Monday night.

Tuesday morning we woke up to a FLAT TIRE!!!  And with a 7 hour drive to North Carolina today we really had not planned on having to fix a flat tire.  Better here in Peachtree City before we left than while we were on the road!!

What a blessing to have a AAA Membership!  A little rain never hurt anyone...right!!??

Driving up to High Point we stopped in Charlotte to do a little HIDE AND SEEK Project Life for Becky!  SO fun to help in this little adventure.  What sweet ladies came to claim it!!

This PEACH is actually located in South Carolina.  I have always thought it should be in Georgia.  Oh well......love to see it!

I have been looking forward to going to DEWEY'S BAKERY there in Winston Salem for a while.  And Thursday after the Zone Conference there was the perfect time.  LOVE this bakery.  We used to go there all the time as kids.

Thursday was a 'sweet memory' day as it marked the 2-year mark of Jonathan's passing away.  Hard to believe it has been that long and still so sad that he is not with us here in mortality.  How grateful we are that we can be a forever family and look forward to being with him again some day!!

SO...after a whirlwind day and a half in North Carolina trying to conduct our 'Mini Clinics' and Medical Training it was time to get back to pick up our little 'treasure' Missionary and get her back home.  President Harding got us to the airport early on Friday morning.  Bless his heart.

The flight was NOT a direct flight, of course.  Last minute tickets never are.  We flew from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, to Seattle WA to Hong Kong.  A 21 hour flight.......

As we flew into Hong Kong it was about sunset time and this is what we saw.  Gorgeous welcome from our friends here in Hong Kong.  We lost a day so it was actually Saturday night.

YUP....we are actually here.

We had a member of the ward/stake pick us up this morning at our Nathan Hotel and drove us to Stake Conference.  We had been asked to share our testimonies in the conference.  What a great event this has been today.

The Stake Center is only about 2 years old.  It is very nice.

The young missionary's uncle is the Stake President.  They invited us over to their home after church where they prepared a wonderful dinner for us.  Here is Sister Ngai to my right, her mother to my left.  Behind us is her father on the right and Wayne on the left.

Sister Ngai's uncle and aunt are standing in the back next to Wayne.  

It has been a wonderful Sabbath.  We love our newly found friends here in Hong Kong.  I feel we will stay in touch with them for a long time!!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Got a sweet little foto from Steven and Elinn today of our little Madi!!!  How sweet.....missing her!

 While home for a couple of days this week, we were able to take a walk on 'our trails'!  And we got to see our little 'Bambi's' while walking.

Wayne actually had an eye appointment this week.....in a rare week of being home 2 days this week!  His eye pressure is great and we enjoyed his eye doctor here!!!

Elder Laws, Elder Lamb, Elder Thompson.  We LOVE our neighbor missionaries!  They are so good about getting our mail in when we are out on our travels.

SO.....while Wayne is busy in his apartment 'office' working, I am working hard on making more afghans.  This one is for my cousin John Marion.  Indian colors....his choice.  I am liking this one.

We went to Zone Conferences in the Georgia Atlanta Mission this week.....one in the Fayetteville Zones and the Cartersville Zones.

We love the 'normal looks' of attending Zone Conferences!!!

Got a GREAT package from Becky this week!!!  A little thank you to me for being a beta-tester with her new Apple App.  Those are adorable homemade cookies along with a few other things!  SO loving it.

Kristyn had her birthday party at our home this week!!!  Glad they could do that and have fun.

We got 'permission' from Elder Sorares and Elder Schwitzer to head out to Mapleton, Utah for the weekend.  Kevin has been called to serve on the High Council in their stake.  That would mean he needs to be ordained a High Priest.  He has asked Wayne if he could/would do that.  OF course he would do that!!!  And we were excited to do that.

Lauren made this amazing carmel dessert.  We LOVED it.

The sustaining and ordaining took place on Saturday night after the adult session of Stake Conference.  We had a family time for the event.

And a 'family' foto.....Great looking family.

Lauren, Kevin, my and Wayne

What a handsome looking group of wonderful men!!!  L to R:  Mel Marion (my uncle), Kevin, Wayne and Andy.

Wonderful weekend!!!  WE LOVE OUR FAMILY!!!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Another l.o.n.g. week of a lot more traveling!  We love traveling.....it is a good thing.  After a week in the Kentucky Louisville Mission (and going up into Indiana for part of their Zone Conferences).  And NOW back into Tennessee for the Tennessee Nashville Zone Conferences!  LOVE OUR MISSION....have I said that before??

Since we don't really get a Preparation Day, we take little 'side trips' along our driving routes to see what sights there might be.  On this travel day (Monday) we stopped to visit and spend an hour at the Andrew Jackson Home on the way from Louisville Kentucky to Nashville Tennessee.  We even took a little buggy ride on the plantation.  Wayne decided to pet the horse while the horse was taking a much needed water break!

As we got close to the Tennessee Nashville Mission Home (where we would spend 2 nights!) we drove past the Tennessee Nashville Temple.  Because it was Monday, the Temple was not open but we at least got to see it.  Hopefully the next time we are here we will be able to take the time to visit the temple and do a session or something!

For dinner we decided to go to CORKY'S and have some bar-b-que!  We have purchased their food from QVC before and it was delicious.  However, it is even more delicious in person at the restaurant!!

Meeting the Mission Nurses is always a highlight for us!  They are absolutely the best!!!  We could not do what we do without them.  Sister Crawford is one of the mission nurses here in Tennessee Nashville Mission.  She may be 81 years young but she is a 'task master'....very spry and energetic!

Lunch is a real 'feast' at these Zone Conferences.  We often have it as our mail meal of the day!!!  The missionaries are loved and well fed!!!

Zone Conference fotos are always a MUST!!!  We love seeing these wonderful missionaries together.  What a GREAT force for righteousness!!

President and Sister Anderson right there in the middle of their 'flock'!!  What a wonderful mission president and mission president's wife they are!!!  Great examples for such great missionaries!

While visiting one of the Zone Conferences we realized that John Morgan's office was in the same building!  He is the local LDS Family Services practitioner.  Fun to meet him and get acquainted!  Now we can put another face to another name.

We got to have one more little 'family face time' with Pia before she headed back to her family in Germany!  How fun to see her one more time!!

As we headed back to our apartment in Peachtree City we realized that our car was truly 'lived in'!!!  It was definitely time to go home and 'regroup'!!!

 When we got back home on Saturday night, I was able to finish this afghan for Lynn Kay!!!  I had worked on it throughout our 2-week trip.  I guess I can be pretty productive when I have an hour here, an hour there!!  We will hand deliver it in about 2 weeks to the Kay's as we drive through Anderson South Carolina!

We had several packages waiting for us when we returned home!!  I love getting packages.  And why not a HAPPY FALL HANGING!!!  Love it......

My heavens....we 'found' yet another cat at our door step this morning (Sunday) as we were getting ready to leave for church.  LOVE our kitty cats.....miss our Madi!!

And we love the uniqueness of our White Water Ward!!!  Golf carts are the 'thing' in the parking lot.  

Apparently today was GRANDPARENTS DAY!!!  And look what our grandkids made for us.  How sweet.

 And thus concludes another week.  Now sure how they go so fast!!!  I wish we could 'slow' down a bit.  I guess that is not suppose to happen though!

Sunday, August 31, 2014

A week of much travel.....2 missions for Zone Conferences.  AND in preparation for my having down time while Wayne is taking care of missionaries via texts, phone calls, emails, etc., I purchased some yarn so I could work on yet another afghan as a gift.  Hence, the yarn pictured below.

Travels this week would take us to the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission.  A gas stop one be one way we would be 'forced' to stop and get out and stretch our legs a minute or two.

And, YES, the gas station with the little convenience store would provide our lunch for us.

Wayne has adapted very well to having his 'mobile office' and working hard while I just sit back and drive, drive, drive.  I would get car-sick if I had to do that!

Our travels to Kentucky would take us right through the heart of Tennessee....Nashville.  SO....it was time to get out and stretch our legs again.  We chose to do that in downtown Nashville.  I made a little page lay-out of our stop there.  It was a fun 45 minutes.  Because we don't get a Preparation Day on this mission, our little side-trips become our little P-Hour or whatever we get.  Also in the foto is us at the Abraham Lincoln birthplace log cabin.  We 'happened' upon this sight as we were driving toward Elizabethtown, KY.  Didn't even know it was there until we saw a sign telling about it.

Part of the Kentucky Louisville Mission goes up into Indiana.  Go figure.  SO.....we ended up in Indiana as well.  Beautiful criss-crossing the Ohio River back and forth, in and out of Louisville.  

A tradition in the Zone Conferences is for the missionaries to sing 'Called To Serve' to those sisters who prepare lunch for the Missionaries.  We LOVE it when they do this.  Powerful!!!

This seems to be one of the older church buildings we have seen.  This is adjacent to the Kentucky Louisville Mission Office.

The bridges around Louisville, Kentucky are so cool and very fascinating.  We loved seeing them and taking fotos.

We had NO idea that the SLUGGER BASEBALL BAT FACTORY was right downtown Louisville.  Been there for over 100 years.  We took another P-45minutes to go visit the factory and take a little tour.  Very interesting.  It peaked our interest in baseball.....which we have never really had before.  Loved that life-sized bat out front!

Wayne found himself a bit on the chilly side while in the hotel in Louisville one evening.  He decided to sit outside on a bench since the weather was so nice.  

On Saturday morning we headed out of Louisville and back down to Tennessee.  However, we discovered that we were only 12 minutes from the Kentucky Louisville Temple.  We went and were able to participate in sealings for an hour.  That was so nice!  Beautiful temple.

Bowling Green, Kentucky was our 'stopping grounds' for 2 nights as we headed back down to Tennessee.  What we didn't realize was that our hotel is right next to the CORVETTE PLANT AND MUSEUM.  Who knew that the corvettes were made right here in Bowling Green!!  We felt out of place with our Honda surrounded by all of the corvettes!!

Had a little 'family history moment' with my cousin Adam Hiatt while here in Kentucky.  He sent me a foto of our great-great-grandparents who joined the church in 1872.  James Dickerson Dean and his wife Esther Hiatt Dean.  I don't recall having seen this foto before.  I love it!

One more little stop we made when leaving Louisville, and also another little P-45 minute stop, was at the Churchill Downs.  What a cool place.  We even had lunch there in the cafe.  It was super delicious.

And thus ends yet another week.  We just can't believe how quickly the weeks are flying by.  We love what we are doing.  We feel very blessed to be able to do what we are doing here in the North America Southeast Area!